131 0201 Gear04 Z - Photo 8802758

4 A Toyota live axle has a drop-out centersection, or third member, that contains the entire ring-and-pinion assembly. This design is very similar to a Ford 9-inch and makes gear swapping easy because the whole operation can be done on a bench. They also use threaded side-bearing adjusters (arrow), which eliminate the need for separate carrier shims. The first step is to remove the lock tabs for the adjusters as shown.